German Enviro Says EVs 'Plunder' and Pollute

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German Enviro Says EVs 'Plunder' and Pollute

It isn't unusual to hear critics say electric vehicles will do nothing to ease global warming and government subsidies for the technology are foolish. But it is unusual to hear an environmentalist say it. A coalition of German environmental organizations says EV incentives will "plunder" government coffers and the cars will have little impact on pollution.

“A lot of money is going to be handed out to support electric cars instead of implementing tougher carbon-dioxide emissions and making gas and diesel cars more efficient,” Juergen Resch, head of the enviro group Deutsche Umwelthilfe, said, according to Bloomberg.

His comments come as automakers scramble to develop EVs and governments in Europe, the United States and China adopt policies to advance the technology. Germany wants one million EVs on the road by 2020.

Resch argues automakers should focus instead on making internal combustion vehicles cleaner and more efficient, as if they can't do that and continue developing electric vehicles. VW, Audi, Daimler and BMW, like just about everyone else, will offer EVs within the next few years. They're also increasing the efficiency of their gasoline and diesel automobiles. It isn't an either / or proposition.

Resch also claims electric vehicles pollute more than internal combustion vehicles because so much of the world's electricity is generated by coal or natural gas. As the EV advocates at Plug-In America note, Resche doesn't seem to acknowledge the pollution associated with extracting, refining and transporting petroleum.

"He compares apples to oranges by looking just at taiplipe emissions from diesel vehicles but including both vehicle and power generation emissions for electric vehicles," said Sherry Boschert, a member of the PIA board. "If you factor in the 'upstream' emissions involved in making and transporting both diesel and electricity, electric cars clearly are cleaner."

Argonne National Laboratory did a "well-to-wheels" analysis (.pdf) that found clean-diesel engines reduce CO2 emissions by 17 percent. Electric vehicles, even when you consider most of the country's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, curb such emissions by 45 percent. Boschert has analyzed more than 40 such studies (.pdf) and says the evidence supports the position that EVs are cleaner than internal combustion.

Resch also doesn't seem to acknowledge the growing (but admittedly still small) role wind and solar power play. And then there's the national security issues associated with our dependence upon oil, not to mention the fact that we're running out of the stuff.